Sydney’s creative future under the microscope

The City of Sydney’s plans to foster an even more creative Sydney will be debated at a special City Conversation at Sydney Theatre tonight (Monday 19th May).

The City’s new cultural policy is based on extensive research and community feedback. It sets out plans to guide and expand artistic and cultural opportunities across Sydney, including major events and festivals, literature, film, food, wine and community initiatives.

The plan has over 120 ideas including making empty commercial and residential space available to artists for creative activities, a trial of matinee and early-evening childcare so parents can take part in cultural activities, offering extended parking for audiences near cultural venues and making low-cost theatre tickets available to high school students.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said culture and creativity were integral parts of every global city, explaining “not a day goes by when we don’t experience creativity and culture – whether it’s in the buildings we see, the food we eat, the libraries we use, the public spaces we occupy.

“To be recognised as a leading creative city, Sydney needs not only its world-class cultural institutions and artists. It must also be a place where the full spectrum of our cultural attributes are visible and expressed throughout the city - including our indigenous culture - and where our creative communities can afford to live and work.

“A comprehensive cultural policy will enable the City to affirm the importance of the arts and creativity to all our lives – that beyond their undoubted economic importance, culture and creativity also shape our city’s identity and confidence.”

To develop the policy, the City received feedback from thousands of people and met with artists, producers, performers, theatres, galleries, businesses, retailers, residents and visitors to hear their ideas about how the City could encourage culture.

Tonight’s City Conversation will offer a glimpse inside that process and examine the next steps for Sydney’s cultural scene.

ABC journalist Annabel Crabb will host the discussion, featuring the Lord Mayor, writer Ben Eltham, art curator and expert Hetti Perkins, urban planner John O’Callaghan, and the City’s executive manager of culture, Rachel Healy.

Actress Claudia Karvan will introduce the discussion, while rapper and Australian Poetry Slam winner Omar Musa will also perform as part of the event.

While the event is sold out, a podcast will be available to watch at: cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/council/news-and-updates/videos-podcasts

Click here for more on the City of Sydney’s draft Cultural Policy and Action Plan.  

21st May 2012 - SYDNEY ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT OF NEW CULTURAL POLICY